


Carlos was a man of reason

by Saltylocks



Series: Carlos the scientist [3]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Cecil is Inhuman, M/M, POV Carlos, Scientist Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-11
Updated: 2014-03-11
Packaged: 2018-01-15 08:58:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1299088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saltylocks/pseuds/Saltylocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos and Cecil tries to set up a date. It is harder than you might think. Things progress anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carlos was a man of reason

**Author's Note:**

> Things are heating up a bit between Mr Radio Host and Mr Scientist. 
> 
> I haven't had anyone read this so all faults are mine and mine alone, and English is not my first language so there might be some grammatical errors here and there. Please tell me if you find any, and maybe I'll fix them. 
> 
> Maybe.
> 
> This is a mostly canon-based AU in which things progress slightly different from the show. In this Carlos is still a scientist but more biology centered than paranormaly (as with the other parts in this series). Just a way for me to play a bit with the characters, it's just for fun.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Edit: thanks to letssendacountrysomecupcakes for pointing out my typo's. They are all changed now.

On his first day in the little town of Night Vale, Carlos had learned that not all residents of Night Vale were human.

A couple of days later, he concluded that though most of them weren't completely human, most of them meant no harm. They just wanted what most humans want: go on with their lives, do what they were supposed to do, find love, eat three meals a day, sometimes go shopping, and now and again watch a good movie. 

Carlos had slowly, as he tried helping them out of various weird situations, discovered that despite the many horrors that had occurred in Night Vale, it was also a refuge for its people. Creatures that were different or saw the world differently or just had very different, sometimes very disturbing things, happening to them because of how the world was, found peace here. After all, what could be more upsetting than Night Vale itself?

The scientist had learned to survive, thought himself how to order from the human side of the menu, how to calm the sentient forest that grew a couple of blocks from the Lab and lots of other vital skills. Carlos and his team had grown into certain roles: he was the leader and listener to Cecil's show and distributing tasks to the others as they came up on the radio or outside the window. Caitlyn had become their floral expert, dealing with everything that grew in Night Vale. Jake was more of a animal whisperer and got to handle the dragons and sometimes the Angels, though officially they didn't exist. Jane had, to many of the others surprise, turned out to be an excellent double spy at the towns intricate and backstabbing government facilities. She was often invited to the City Council to sit in at meetings and tell the City Council about what they discovered at the Lab. 

But mostly the Night Vale Scientists worked as a team, sharing information and tips on how to live to the next day. Their instruments mostly read stuff which later turned out to be faulty or wrong, the clocks spewed gray goo, the sun went up and down on a different schedule each day, and most things could kill them a hundred times over. All this, and not one of them ever mentioned leaving Night Vale. None of the scientists, including Carlos, ever stood up and exclaimed that they “had enough of this nonsense town”. Carlos sometimes wondered, in the dead of night, when he couldn't sleep, if he should worry about this, about himself and the others. He had never had a family, always been an orphan, and had just been happy to have a home of his own and a infatuated radio host who loved his hair. But the others seemed fine, and Carlos wouldn't want to pry. 

This was the world that Carlos knew until a few months in, just living at the Lab, eating at one or two of the restaurants, mostly Big Rico's, and studying the supernatural life of Night Vale. He had never dreamed of inviting someone into it, and certainly not in the way that presented itself later into his and Cecil's relationship.

When Carlos and Cecil first tried to set a date, there had been a lot of delays and complications. They couldn't meet at Cecil's house since the City Council hadn't received the proper forms at the time, and they had tried meeting up at Arby's, but Cecil had a meeting with the management about budget cuts that he literally couldn't get out of. They met outside the station afterwards, Cecil all covered in some sort of yellow pus that the management thrown at him in agreement of their arrangement to not lower his pay. Carlos offered that Cecil could wash up at the lab and the scrawny radio host had gracefully accepted.

This was the first time they had been together outside of work hours. Though it wasn't a date, and it was almost a month after that time when they sat on the car and watched the sunset, it still created a sort of heavy feeling between them. Carlos was extremely aware of Cecil gingerly following him up the stairs and into the private rooms of the Lab. Since the Scientists had arrived, the previously spartan, almost bare rooms on the second floor had begun to look, and smell, more and more like a student dorm. Old pizza bowls overflowed the kitchen sink and down the hall the radio was on and the voices of the other scientists came floating towards Cecil and Carlos as the scientist opened the door to the boys bathroom. It had a shower and some shelves where Carlos and Jake kept their shaving cream and towels. 

“You can use the shower here” Carlos said and opened the door for Cecil. 

Cecil smiled and walked in.

“Thank you”, he said. “It smells like you in here.”

Carlos felt his spine tingle and shyly looked away. Cecil chuckled. 

“You are just adorable.”

The cool hand on his warm cheeks made Carlos look up and into Cecil's eyes. They were still all white, but Cecil had his contacts in and they marked where Cecil should have his irises. It was incredible looking into those glowing eyes, but Carlos noticed that the other man seemed to focus more on Carlos lower lip. A little smile played in the corner of his mouth and then suddenly, Cecil leaned in and his lips met Carlos.

It wasn't one of those movie kisses where both participants are washed up, newly shaved, clean teeth, that sort of thing. Carlos could smell the yellow pus stink off Cecil's clothes, and his mouth tasted like blood and sort of like blue cheese, but none of that mattered because it also tasted sweet and tingly. Carlos hoped his own three day stubble and the tuna sandwich he ate earlier wouldn't taste in his breath, but Cecil pulled him in closer and sort of moaned a little into his mouth and he was just happy to hug the slim man tighter. 

Carlos had never been that close to anyone in his life and he could feel his body responding to the cool touches of Cecil's hands, in ways he'd never experienced before. His mind, his ability to think logically, who had once been the most priced asset he thought he had, melted away in a heartbeat under the other mans touch. He hadn't known he could feel something so passionately as he now felt his want to be with Cecil, to be a part of him. It frightened him a little, and he slowly pulled away and looked at the radio host with dim eyes. 

Cecil's eyes looked back at him through half-closed eyelids.

“I thought it would be great to finally kiss you” he sighed, “just a little peck on the lips. But it was even better, and not even in my wildest dreams would I have thought that you would be so... _responsive_.”

Carlos smiled a little and kissed the man again, a little lighter.

“Now you have done both” he said, still immensely happy. 

Cecil sighed longingly and looked at Carlos with loving eyes. Then, his eyes rolled back, and he slid down the wall.

“Cecil?” Carlos asked, hoping this was just another weird thing the radio host did sometimes.

“It's this, the yellow...,” Cecil panted, “it must have been more potent than I thought. I will need some help inside, dear Carlos.”

Carlos quickly closed the door behind them. The light had been out since day one and since the sun had set ridiculously early this particular day, Carlos thought about lighting a few candles, but it didn't seem to be necessary. Cecil's neon pink tattoos, which Carlos thought had been only a few, in fact covered most of Cecils body, and glowed dimly in the almost-dark space. The small dots moved too: at first Carlos thought it was just a illusion, but as Cecil moved to stand upright again, the wisps of pink-on-light-brown moved together with him, gathered to form other shapes. Cecil carefully locked the door behind them, but Carlos barely noticed. When Carlos glowered at Cecil's tattoos they changed into a bead of eyes, staring back at him, and so did Cecil.

“Like what you see, Carlos?” the man purred, a little more high-pitched than before. 

“You are something, you know,” Carlos breathed, fascinated.

“Is it...alright?” Cecil asked, sort of hesitantly. “I can cover them up again, if it's too weird.”

He reached to pull down his sleeve, but Carlos gently grabbed his arm before he could take it. 

“It is fine” he assured him, “it's... better than fine.” 

Carlos didn't want to let go of Cecil, and the radio host's tattoos seemed to like it as they became butterflies and started fluttering around his grip.

“Are you doing that?” he asked Cecil, who shook his head.

“It's like, you know, they follow blood flow or something, like, where my mind is right now... I can't really decide for them where to go.”

Carlos looked at his grip on Cecil and watched as the light started flowing over to him, so his skin too had butterflies, fluttering back and forth along their hands and up Carlos's arm. Carlos touched it but felt nothing but skin as the color turned a little darker and shifted into five small stars.

“Is it alright?” he said, mesmerized. “Can I keep it there?”

“Of course, wonderful, perfect Carlos,” Cecil beamed.

“All those words” Carlos sighed and looked up into his eyes, “when it is you who is really all those things.”

Cecil's lips met his again with a possessiveness Carlos had never felt before. He could feel his body responding accordingly, a flutter of a thousand butterflies, the intensity staggering and then settling in the lower parts of his stomach and groin.

“You are all mine now” Cecil said, and his voice was a deep growl that made Carlos realize that the voice he had heard so far was one of the higher tones of the radio host's repertoire.

At this point he noted that Cecil glowed a lot more, that he no longer seemed as weak as he had seemed before (quite the opposite really, Carlos thought as he wiggled a little between Cecil's body and the wall behind them) and also that Cecil's pointy teeth was very close to his face. Logically, Carlos knew he should be afraid and maybe even scream for help. Instead, he was fascinated. The scientist couldn't help but stare at the true face of Cecil, all lit up by neon pink and his third eye ablaze like a search light. His edges wasn't blurry anymore, Carlos could see the black, smooth plumes of smoke that surrounded him, dense and other-worldly. This celestial being that called him his, that was so much more than he could see and comprehend, but also, his boyfriend.

 

“Cecil,” Carlos murmured as he felt the sharp teeth dig into his skin, although the pain was a fraction of what it should have been, and he closed his eyes. Carlos couldn't explain it but he somehow didn't mind the pain when it was dealt to him by Cecil, instead, he wished for more. Pressing what little of his body that wasn't already surrounded by the light into it, wanting to disappear completely in warmth and darkness. He seemed to be floating, he wasn't sure where they were anymore. He felt as though a thousand limbs surrounded him, warm and strong. He could feel them nuzzling him, exploring him, reaching under his collar and into his pants...

“Hey, Carlos?” a voice called out, seeming an awfully long way away. “Is that you in there? Come on man, you've been there for ages and I need to shower too.”

Jake. Carlos wasn't sure weather he wanted to thank him or kill him as he felt Cecil retreat his body into it's pretend human shell again. He opened his eyes and was met by a pair of very guilty eyes.

“I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me.”

Cecil looked at him like a lost kitten and Carlos quickly shuffled to his feet.

“Cecil” he said, at a loss for words, but eager to express what he felt. “I'm not sure what the hell just happened.”

Cecil squirmed and looked even sadder.

“I'll just show myself out,” he whimpered and turned his back.

“Cecil.”

Carlos put his hand on his shoulder to stop him from leaving.

“I liked it. I liked it very much. Will I see you tomorrow?”

Cecil looked at Carlos with wide eyes. He then smiled and nodded.

“Yes. Of course you can. My dear, perfect Carlos.”

As they opened the door, Jake was outside. He took one look at them and staggered back to let Cecil pass. The pair shared a chaste kiss and a few words of adoration by the door as Cecil left. When Carlos turned, Jake still stood there, nailed to the floor.

“You look like you been through hell, man”, he said as Carlos shot him a shy look. “You got one hell of a bite on your neck, there. Doesn't seem to have made you less happy about it though.”

Carlos just shook his head, tried to hide his big grin still attached to his face. He straightened his clothes a bit, and left Jake snickering to himself in the hallway.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, did you like it? Let me know with kudos and comments <3
> 
> You can follow me on Twitter @Saltwaterhair or at Tumblr @saltvattenshar. 
> 
> You probably get this already, but I don't own the characters, this is totally a fan work, and I am such a huge fan of this show. 
> 
> The show Welcome to Night Vale is produced by Common Place books and belongs to Joseph Fink, Jeffry Cranor and all the wonderful people who work on the show. If you haven't...
> 
> ...oh who am I kidding you already know this. 
> 
> Just.
> 
> Just google it.


End file.
